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Information about Ferrari

Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1928 (82 years ago) as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles in 1947 (63 years ago) as Ferrari S.p.A.. Throughout its history, the company has been noted for its continued participation in racing, especially in Formula One, where it has enjoyed great success.

Company structure

Ferrari was founded as an independent company by Enzo Ferrari. During the 1960s, the company was in financial difficulty, and Mr Ferrari announced his intention to sell the company to ensure continued financial backing. Interest from the Ford Motor Company was rejected in favour of an offer from the Fiat Group, which took control of the company's sports car division in 1969 (41 years ago). Enzo Ferrari retained control of the racing division until his death in 1988 (22 years ago) at the age of 90.

In 2007 (3 years ago) the Financial Times put Ferrari at the top of its list of 100 Best Workplaces in Europe.

Name

The "Cavallino Rampante" Prancing Horse Logo

The famous symbol of the Ferrari race team is a black prancing stallion on a yellow shield, usually with the letters S F (for Scuderia Ferrari), with three stripes of green, white and red (the Italian national colors) at the top. The road cars have a rectangular badge on the hood (see picture (wallpaper) above), and, optionally, the shield-shaped race logo on the sides of both front wings, close to the door.

On Jun. 17, 1923 (87 years ago), Enzo Ferrari won a race at the Savio track in Ravenna where he met the Countess Paolina, mother of Count Francesco Baracca, an ace of the Italian air force and national hero of World War I, who used to paint a horse on the side of his planes. The Countess asked Enzo to use this horse on his cars, suggesting that it would bring him good luck. The original "prancing horse" on Baracca's airplane was painted in red on a white cloud-like shape, but Ferrari chose to have the horse in black (as it had been painted as a sign of grief on Baracca's squadron planes after the pilot was killed in action) and he added a canary yellow background as this is the color of the city of Modena, his birthplace. The Ferrari horse was, from the very beginning, markedly different from the Baracca horse in most details, the most noticeable being the tail that in the original Baracca version was pointing downward.

Ferrari has used the cavallino rampante on official company stationery since 1929 (81 years ago). Since the Spa 24 Hours of Jul. 9, 1932 (78 years ago), the cavallino rampante has been used on Alfa Romeos raced by Scuderia Ferrari.

The motif of a prancing horse is old, it can be found on ancient coins. A similar black horse on a yellow shield is the Coat of Arms of the German city of Stuttgart, home of Mercedes-Benz and the design bureau of Porsche, both being main competitors of Alfa and Ferrari in the 1930 (80 years ago). The city's name derives from Stutengarten, an ancient form of the German word Gestüt, which translates into English as stud farm and into Italian as scuderia. Porsche also includes the Stuttgart sign in its corporate logo, centred in the emblem of the state of Württemberg. Stuttgart's Rössle has both rear legs firmly planted on the soil, like Baracca's horse, but unlike Ferrari's cavallino.

Fabio Taglioni used the cavallino rampante on his Ducati motorbikes, as Taglioni was born at Lugo di Romagna like Baracca, and his father too was a military pilot during WWI (although not part of Baracca's squadron, as is sometimes mistakenly reported). As Ferrari's fame grew, Ducati abandoned the horse- perhaps the result of a private agreement between the two companies.

The cavallino rampante is now a trademark of Ferrari. Cavallino Magazine uses the name, but not the logo. However, other companies use similar logos: Avanti, an Austrian company operating over 100 filling stations, uses a prancing horse logo which is nearly identical to Ferrari's, as does Iron Horse Bicycles. Many pay homage to the Ferrari logo, e.g. the Jamiroquai album Travelling Without Moving.

Racing Red - Rosso Corsa

Since the 1920s, Italian race cars of Alfa Romeo, Maserati and later Ferrari and Abarth were (and often still are) painted in "race red" (Rosso Corsa). This was the customary national racing color of Italy, as recommended between the World Wars by the organizations that later would become the FIA. It refers to the nationality of the competing team, not that of the car manufacturer or driver. In that scheme, French-entered cars like Bugatti were blue, German like Benz and Mercedes white (since 1934 (76 years ago) also bare sheet metal silver), and British green such as the mid 1960 (50 years ago) Lotus and BRM, for instance.

Curiously, Ferrari won the 1964 (46 years ago) World championship with John Surtees by competing the last two races in North America with cars painted in the US-American race colors white and blue, as these were not entered by the Italian factory themselves, but by the U.S.-based North American Racing Team (NART) team. This was done as a protest concerning arguments between Ferrari and the Italian Racing Authorities regarding the homologation of a new mid-engined Ferrari race car.

History

Enzo Ferrari never intended to produce road cars when he had formed Scuderia Ferrari (literally "Ferrari Stable", and usually used to mean "Team Ferrari", it is correctly pronounced "skoo deh REE ah") in 1929 (81 years ago) as a sponsor for amateur drivers headquartered in Modena. Ferrari prepared and successfully raced various drivers in Alfa Romeo cars until 1938 (72 years ago), when he was hired by Alfa Romeo to head their motor racing department.

In 1941 (69 years ago), Alfa Romeo was confiscated by the Fascist government of Benito Mussolini as part of the Axis Powers' war effort. Enzo Ferrari's division was small enough to be unaffected by this. Because he was prohibited by contract from racing for four years, the Scuderia briefly became Auto Avio Costruzioni Ferrari, which ostensibly produced machine tools and aircraft accessories. Also known as SEFAC (Scuderia Enzo Ferrari Auto Corse), Ferrari did in fact produce one race car, the Tipo 815, in the non-competition period. It was the first actual Ferrari car (it debuted at the 1940 (70 years ago) Mille Miglia), but due to World War II it saw little competition. In 1943 (67 years ago) the Ferrari factory moved to Maranello, where it has remained ever since. The factory was bombed by the Allies in 1944 (66 years ago) and rebuilt in 1946 (64 years ago), after the war ended, and included a works for road car production. Until Il Commendatore's death, this would remain little more than a source of funding for his first love, racing.


166MM Barchetta 212/225.The first Ferrari road car was the 1947 (63 years ago) 125 S, powered by a 1.5 L V12 engine; Enzo Ferrari reluctantly built and sold his automobiles to fund Scuderia Ferrari. While his beautiful and fast cars quickly gained a reputation for excellence, Enzo maintained a famous distaste for his customers.

In 1988 (22 years ago), Enzo Ferrari oversaw the launch of the Ferrari F40, the last new Ferrari to be launched before his death later that year, and arguably one of the most famous supercars ever made.

On May 17, 2009 (last year) in Maranello, Italy, a 1957 (53 years ago) 250 Testa Rossa (TR) was auctioned, by RM Auctions and Sotheby's, for $12.1 Million - a world record for the most expensive car ever sold at an auction.

Source: en.wikipedia.org

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